What it means
Back matter (or end matter) is what follows the last chapter. The traditional order runs: afterword or epilogue, appendices, endnotes, glossary, bibliography or further reading, index, acknowledgements (if not in the front), and a short about the author — with a colophon, a note on the type, last of all.
Fiction usually needs little of it: an author note, acknowledgements, perhaps a reading-group guide. Nonfiction depends on it; notes and an index are what make a reference book usable, and an index is compiled only after the pages are final because it refers to page numbers.
Self-published books have added a commercial page or two here: an "also by" list, a preview of the next book, or a request for a review. Back matter continues the arabic page numbering, and its sections open on a recto in the same way chapters do.
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